


Hope the World Keeps Its Balance

by Rivulet027



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Good Parent Jango Fett, Kid Boba Fett, POV Shaak Ti, Parental Shaak Ti, Rescue Missions, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:55:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/pseuds/Rivulet027
Summary: Shaak rescues Jango.
Relationships: Boba Fett & Jango Fett, Boba Fett & Shaak Ti, Jango Fett/Shaak Ti
Comments: 6
Kudos: 57
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	Hope the World Keeps Its Balance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brightstream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightstream/gifts).



There’s a human child stalking her, well trying to stalk her. He’s doing well for a human. Shaak slows her steps. Hunting instincts should always be encouraged. She plays this game with Ahsoka when she’s on Coruscant. It’s satisfying to overdramatically pretend to be caught to encourage Ahsoka to enjoy hunting. Each time she finds herself wondering if it will be she or Master Koon who are asked to train Ahsoka when she’s a padawan. Perhaps there will be someone else, there’s no way to know these things ahead of time.

She believes it’s only the human child following her. Shaak takes a moment to access if he’s meant to be a distraction, but no, he’s alone. She catches glimpses of him as he edges closer, watchful from the shadows. His hair is all dark curls. There’s blood on his clothes, it’s disturbing. Her mission is complete and she doesn’t think he ties into it. She pauses at a few stalls in the marketplace, that’s on the way to the spaceport, to let him shift ever closer. He doesn’t approach. He’s hesitant. Shaak stops at a food vendor, picks up a bowl that’s a mix of rice, meat, and vegetables that should be palatable to a human.

She continues on and finds an out of the way alcove. She holds the bowl to her side and waits till his small hands have wrapped around it before she lets go. Large dark brown eyes meet hers. He looks at the food, then studies her face. This isn’t the first child she’s met with a serious face. He stirs the food, then sniffs it carefully. He holds out a spoonful towards her. Obligingly, and knowing she hadn’t selected any foods dangerous to her, she leans down and eats the spoonful. He chews his bottom lip as he watches her. Satisfied he starts shoveling the food into his mouth appreciatively. After a moment he slows to savor the taste. One hand protectively clutches the bowl as he studies her.

“This isn’t food you’re used to,” she comments.

He shakes his head. This isn’t his home. She waits, she’ll have an explanation eventually. He finishes, settling the spoon into the bowl. He’s a bit old for the creche, but he’s calm. There are old fears inside of him, but his resolve isn’t letting them rule him, sway him. He might pass their tests, if that’s why the force led him to her.

“You’re kind. I saw,” he says.

“I try to be,” she agrees.

His gaze settles on her Akul tooth headdress. “You’re a warrior too.”

“Yes,” she agrees, let a satisfied smile touch her lips.

He doesn’t say Jedi, but then he likely can’t tell and she isn’t dressed as a Jedi. Her mission had been undercover. She wears a flowing light blue tunic with wide sleeves over a darker blue undershirt and black pants. A scarf of intricate blue and white interlocking triangle patterns is tied around her waist, a gift from Master Yaddle when she took her seat on the Jedi Counsel. A blaster is holstered on her hip. Her lightsaber and supplies are in a rucksack on her back. 

He scratches his nose and then doesn’t say he felt like he should follow her. He huffs instead. It comes out in a rush, the confession and plea jumbling in words stumbling over each other. “I’m not supposed to leave...I’m supposed to stay with...my dad leaves for jobs and I’m...I was worried. Ninety-Nine wanted to talk to my dad, but my dad wasn’t there and they knew. Nala Se knew and he told me to hide and I thought they decommissioned him, but now Ninety-Nine doesn’t remember trying to talk to me or what he wanted to tell my dad and he’s so much older. He should only be a teenager, but they did something and now he’s old enough that he’s had a stroke! A stroke! And they put him in maintenance so no one even sees him anymore and I tried to tell my dad when he came back. I wanted to tell him it’s not right, but what if they stuck me in maintenance? What if I had a stroke and got old and forgot I was supposed to be his son? What if they tried to give him a new son and...so I snuck on his ship then he left and I was going to tell him that Nala Se is up to no good, but then the job he was given must have been a set up because we were boarded as soon as we landed and they shouldn’t have been able to...but then they found me and they dragged us to this…”

Shaak kneels down. She wants to ask who Nala Se is and who Ninety-Nine is, but there’s a more pressing concern. “Your father is in danger.” 

He nods.

“Is your ship safe now?”

“It should be,” he says. “I was supposed to comm for help, but I saw you and you’re here.”

“Yes, I am,” she reassures. “I’m Shaak Ti.”

“Boba Fett.”

Shaak stills. She has a suspicion who his father is and yet she doesn’t sense a deception on Boba’s part, just an earnest need for help. Still, it could be a trap, but what if it’s not? “And your father’s name?”

“Jango.”

Shaak nods. She didn’t even know Jango Fett had a son. She doesn’t want to believe that he’d use his son in a ploy to kill a Jedi. She reminds herself that Boba probably doesn’t realize she’s a Jedi. She sees him safely back to his ship while getting the information she needs on where his father is being held.

She stops in her ship to hide her rucksack. It's safer to lock her lightsaber on her ship. She takes the time to weave and tie several lock picking tools into her scarf so they look decorative. She tucks a collapsible staff, a gift from Mace, into the scarf when she ties it back around her waist.

She finds the building Boba told her about easily. Then she allows herself to be caught. It’s ridiculous how quickly the guards believe they’ve subdue her. They take her blaster, then only check her for vibroblades and blasters. She nudges them mentally when they go to check her scarf.

Jango is pretending nonchalance in the cell they’re holding him in. The cell is bars and a mechanical lock across one side of the room. There's one small window, which doesn't have bars, and Shaak suspects this is how Boba escaped. They shove her in. She waits until they leave, until she can sense they’re out of earshot before she chides, “Patience would serve you well. Were you not going to wait for the person you sent Boba to call?” 

Jango raises his eyebrows as he studies her. A careful up and down sweep, that lingers as his eyes travel back upward. “It’s safer to have many plans and safer for Boba to go directly back to my ship.”

“He thought it would be worth requesting my assistance,” she tells him.

“Did you tell him patience as well?” Jango challenges.

“I didn’t need to. He demonstrated patience.”

Jango snorts. Shaak smiles. This is going to be fun.

"I nearly had the door open," he complains with a challenge in his smile.

She touches her waist, let's him take in the tools there. His eyes meet her and she can't help but mirror his self satisfied smirk. The anticipation of a fight begins to sing through her veins and she can see the same anticipation in his eyes. She makes quick work of the lock.

As Jango shoves the door open and then grabs one of the guards he chides, “Should’ve left a guard inside the room.”

Shaak snorts as she knocks out the other guard. “Really?”

“If I don’t tell them what they did wrong, how can they learn?” he offers.

She shakes her head at him. His grin is flirty. She gives him an unimpressed look. “That was hardly a struggle. If this is some sort of trap and you’ve involved your son then…”

Jango’s smile vanishes and he growls as he stalks closer. “Listen lady, I don’t know who you or whatever name you think you’ve made for yourself, but don’t get all pretentious on me when we haven’t even made it out the door.”

“I suppose I should expect such patronizing words from such an egoistic man,” she flings back.

“You’ve heard of me,” he snaps. “I can’t say the same of you.”

Shaak snorts. “You didn’t ask, but you’re right, this argument can wait until we’re safely back to your ship and can see that no one is going to threaten Boba.”

His mouth clicks shut as his eyes widen slightly. She can feel how protective he is of his son. There’s the hum of anticipation in him, the ready for a fight that knocking out their guards didn’t satisfy, but mostly he’s wanting to get back to his son. She can respect that. She always felt that protective of her padawans and then they all died. It’s one of the reasons she hasn’t attempted to take another padawan, though she misses raising them, she worries she’ll become too protective after losing all the others. It would be detrimental and inhibit learning.

Something must show on her face because he tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. “You have kids.”

She shakes her head. “Had.” 

He grimaces and she’s unprepared for the sympathy that runs through him. She takes the staff from her belt and opens it and she can feel how his thoughts move from concern for her to admiration tinged with lust. It’s heady and distracting. She shakes her head, “Don’t be distracting. We need to get back to Boba so he can bring his concerns to you.”

Jango goes still and calculating. “Concerns, that’s why...do you...I’ll ask him.”

She agrees and when she heads down the stairs he’s right at her heels.


End file.
